The Hunger Games - Clove's Point of View
by catinafridge
Summary: The 74th annual Hunger Games, written in the perspective of Clove Helladius: a well-off, District 2 girl who plans to kill Katniss Everdeen.


"Today is the most important day of your training," my instructor calls out to a class of roughly forty students, "Here at Peregrine's school; you're expected to be able to complete every station with at least a score of 75 out of 100 at the end. I don't care if you're 12-years-old or 18-years-old; you're all more than capable of volunteering today at the reaping." This is one of the most important days of our lives – the reaping of The Hunger Games. Every year, one girl and one boy are selected at random from each of the twelve districts to compete in the games, where they fight to the death until one tribute remains. I live in District 2, one of the closest districts to the Capitol, and also one of the richest. Here, it's an honour to represent District 2 in The Hunger Games. The child that is reaped rarely gets to compete, as a lot of other children volunteer to take their place. I know of only one person who would never volunteer, and does not care for the games, and that person is Vesper Fenton.

Vesper is my best friend. He skips training school nearly every day to sit up in the stone mountains. I'm supposed to be meeting him after school today, like I do most days. Technically, no one is allowed in the mountains unless they work there, so my brother has to smuggle us both up there by train. My brother is called Blaine and he's a stonemason. He's 19-years-old and no longer qualifies for the games. My father was very disappointed in him for not volunteering in his final year, so now the pressure is on me.

"Clove Helladius?" asks my instructor.

"That's me." I reply.

"Ah, yes. You'll be paired with Cato today."

A tall, athletic figure walks towards me, cockily. I estimate that he's around a foot taller than me, twice as broad and with unmistakably larger muscles. I can't help but notice that he is in fact, a boy. Generally, it's against the rules to pair up members of the opposite sex, but I don't complain. I do love a challenge.

We start with spear throwing, which is clearly his strength, but I act like I know what I'm doing. He barely gives me a chance to pick up a spear before he's already driven his into a target on the wall.

"Impressive." I say, with as much sarcasm as possible. He just glares at me in the way I commonly do to other people. _Wow, what's up with him_, I think.

We soon move onto the next station: climbing. Instructors approach us and clip our harnesses on, making sure they are secure. Cato is already halfway up the climbing wall within a few minutes, leaving me behind. So much for team work.

"Hurry up!" he shouts down in a deep, gruff voice. I've never heard him speak before. You wouldn't be able to tell he's from this district; he doesn't even sound American.

"It would be nice if I could get some help."

"For God's sake, how hard is it?" he replies, agitated. Talk about anger issues.

"Why are you so hostile?" I say, hypocritically.

"Because you're being such a girl. You're so weak."

"Weak? You wait until we get to knife throwing - then you can decide who the weak one is!" The instructors bring us down from the wall almost instantly, unclipping our harnesses and telling us that we might prefer another activity.

I choose the next station without approval from Mr 'You're Such a Girl'. I walk confidently towards knife throwing, carefully selecting my weapon.

"Ugh, this is such a pointless station, why do they even have it?" Cato complains bitterly. He begins to walk towards another station.

"The amount of inches you continue walking away is the amount of inches I will dig this knife into your chest." Cato stops and turns on his heel, grinning in amusement.

He's stands silently to watch me, as I begin tossing the knives, effortlessly hitting on target every time. I throw a couple more than necessary; just to make sure I've got my point across nice and clear. Cato observes me carefully. I can clearly see the shocked, yet impressed expression he is trying to hold back. _My work here is done_, I think to myself.

We spend the rest of the training session at the camouflage station, dully swirling our hands in earthy coloured mixtures, not speaking a word. I don't go off to speak to my friends, simply because I don't have any. I have Vesper, but he never shows up – I'm seeing him later any way. Cato stays put as well. Something tells me that he too has no friends. It's not surprising judging by his personality though, so I decide not to feel sorry for him.

Training finishes at noon, so that everyone can go home and get ready for the reaping that will be held later. When it's time to leave, Cato gives me a small nod goodbye, but I pretend not to notice and continue with leaving.

I sprint across District 2 town square, desperate to see Vesper. I know he'll already be in the mountains, so I just need to find my brother and have him take me up there. I spot Blaine almost instantly. He leaves the friends he was chatting with and expertly smuggles me onto the train.


End file.
